"Love and Fear: The Magic of Harry Potter"
A Sermon by Rev. Judy Tomlinson
July 24, 2011
READINGS: ANCIENT & MODERN
Our Ancient Reading is 1 John 4:16-18:
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have
confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are
like Love. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out
fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears
is not made perfect in love."
Our Modern Reading is by Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone:
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort
cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful
as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible
sign . . . to have been loved so deeply, even though the person
who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is
in your very skin."
SERMON
I was first introduced to Harry Potter in the late 1990s by my
niece, a quiet nine year-old who, in the hubbub of our large extended
family, liked to sit off in a corner by herself cloaked in a book.
Back then I was in graduate school while also working as a DRE,
so I had zero amount of time to read anything but seminary books.
However, a few years later when I moved here to Montclair, I decided
to give myself the treat of reading what I thought would be a simple
and fun kids' book that might help ease the significant transition
from California to New Jersey.
As someone who enjoys fantasy and science fiction, I was immediately
hooked by that first book, called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone. Fortunately for me, by the time I had finished it, the author,
J.K. Rowling, had already begun publishing others. I devoured every
one. And then, glory of glories, the movies started coming out and
I rushed to see them.
Now the books and the movies are complete. During the past 10 years
I've read all the books and as of this past Thursday I've seen all
the movies, some of them several times. It's over, and I sometimes
wonder how I can go on. I guess my only consolation is that next
summer, The Hobbit, the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, will be
coming to a theater near you.
For the most part I have simply enjoyed the stories as a traditional
battle between good and evil; between the all-powerful and the underdog;
between love - such a high value and crucial to life itself - and
the negatives of fear, hate and cruelty that seem to consume all
of those who grasp for power. Others, however, have seen deeper
into this series, John Granger, no relation to Hermonie to whom
I owe a debt for much of the research he did to produce Finding
God in Harry Potter and found multiple levels of meaning. And I
have to believe the deeper meaning is there, that it helps to explain
the unprecedented nature of this worldwide phenomenon.
Some observers, including former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now
Pope, have warned that the series offers children "subtle seductions,
which act unnoticed . . . [and] deeply distort Christianity in the
soul before it can grow properly." And some argue against the
books specifically because they promote and glorify witchcraft.
Others view the books differently, believing that they convey a
clearly Christian theme. Interestingly, Rowling herself has openly
acknowledged the books' Christian references. She has also recently
talked about her own struggle of faith and her questioning of the
after-life. Her faith now is that her faith will return.
The popular story about Rowling is that she was a poor single mother
riding the train when the idea for the books came to her and she
began writing it on a napkin. But there is a much more layered story
when we look into what allowed this work of genius. Rowling's working
class parents grew up in poverty and when it came time for their
"A student" daughter, to go to college, they hoped she
would use her studies to prepare for a vocation and a sure and steady
income. However when she began school she was drawn toward a study
of languages and the classics.
She did well in school but married quickly and had a child. Unfortunately
the marriage was short lived and Rowling was left to raise her daughter
on her own. She soon found herself on the dole and a complete failure
by society's standards, as well as her own.
As sometimes happens, her failure allowed her to find rock bottom
and changed her life. She was set free from fear because she had
faced the worst and survived. She realized that she had achieved
something-her own sense of self. She found that she had an inner
security and a knowledge of who her friends were. She says it was
a painful experience, but feels she could have learned these lessons
in no other way. She soon resolved to stop putting her efforts into
anything except things that really mattered.
Rowling ended up working as a researcher for Amnesty International
and, while there, read widely about the horrors that totalitarian
governments inflict on their own people. She came face to face with
torture victims who may have escaped their countries, but had not
escaped the lasting damage they had suffered. She also witnessed
something positive - the power of ordinary citizens to organize
in support of people they did not know and would never meet. She
saw that people could work together to challenge oppression and
cruelty and make a difference; that people could transform the world
for the better. After her remarkable success, she became a generous
benefactor to many such organizations.
In this woman we find the combination of love of language; a fascination
with the wisdom of classical literature; an awakening social consciousness;
and a copious imagination. The result is a classical hero's journey
that is engaging and enjoyable on so many levels.
We find an unshakeable sense of mission in the books' main character,
Harry Potter. Orphaned at an early age when his parents were murdered
by a powerful evil wizard called Lord Voldemort, Harry was sent
off to live with his non-magical Aunt Petunia and her intentionally
unimaginative family. The murder of Harry's parents, we eventually
learn, was committed because of a prophesy that said a child would
be born who has the power to defeat Lord Voldemort. But, while Voldemort
is able to kill his parents, who are protecting Harry, he is not
able to kill Harry. In fact, the evil wizard is reduced to a pitiful
inhuman creature when his killing curse backfires because of the
powerful love that is surrounding the baby.
So the child escapes with a lightening shaped scar on his forehead.
Voldemort holds on to life by the merest thread for ten years. Meanwhile,
Harry is living in the non-magical world among what the books call
the "muggles" - in other words, us - completely unaware
of his past, his parents murders, or his own powers, until he is
11 years old. Then, out of the blue, he receives an invitation to
attend the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
As the books progress, Harry discovers how much he was loved by
his parents and how they died protecting him. He is transformed
from a victimized and lonely orphan, through his newfound friendships
with devoted sidekick and comic relief Ron Weasley and brilliant
and loyal bibliophile Hermione Granger. He also has the benefit
of a supremely wise mentor in Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
The books are great fun in so many ways. You can spend hours discovering
associations of names like Albus Dumbledore-which means pure white,
glorious, resplendant bumble bee and may be a reference to the goddess
or to the holy spirit. Or you can consider the implications of the
name Voldemort, which means flight from death, fitting for a character
who goes to almost unimaginable lengths to become immortal. There
is much speculation about Harry's name. It could be an everyman
name like John Smith. Or, Harry could be a herald of things to come,
and a "potter" or, some think, an agent who acts as a
creator of those very things. In the speculation and puzzle lies
the fun.
All the books follow a similar pattern, the hero's journey. They
begin with Harry's escape from harsh and demeaning confinement,
freed by those in the magical world. He soon learns that there is
a mystery to solve and a crisis to overcome. Harry and his friends
battle great odds, eventually descending into the underworld to
face their shadow side. Finally and, with unexpected, mysterious
help, the books end in triumph, though often at a considerable loss.
Rowling does not shield her audience, young or old, from evil,
grief and pain. In fact she guarantees it; Harry loses his parents
and their love before the books have even started. Later he loses
another chance at having a loving family, this time with his Godfather.
He loses many, many friends in the battle against Voldemort.
Rowling reveals to young readers the self-protective and self-interested
underbelly of many institutions including government, the judicial
system and the media. Through Harry, Hermione and Ron, she asks
us to question authority and rely on our own reason and good conscience,
rather than simply following the rules.
Harry and his friends are forced to confront the flawed institutions
of their own society: they experience prejudice, control, oppression,
even torture. In the face of these abuses, Rowling calls us to affirm
and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and every
kind of being. Harry and company are willing to risk their reputations
- even their lives - to do so. Are we?
We are not one-sided personalities. Neither are Rowling's characters.
Draco Malfoy, Harry's main enemy until Voldemort comes fully back
to life, has the chance to unmask Harry at a crucial moment in the
series but can't bring himself to do it. It turns out that the apparently
mean and even brutal potions master, Severus Snape, has carried
an undying, transcendant love in his heart since childhood. On the
other hand, we learn that the wise and brave Headmaster Dumbledore
has a deeply flawed personal history. And Harry forgives them all.
Harry is at once both everyman and the noblest among us. And he
is always making choices in favor of the marginalized and the flawed,
often to Ron's dismay.
Having lived with these books and movies for more than a decade,
it seems to me that there are two overriding lessons: that love
overcomes the fear of death and that the friendships and the choices
you make, are what make you who you are.
These themes are actually most clearly illustrated by the actions
of Lord Voldemort. Driven by fear, the Dark Lord has relentlessly
sought immortality. To achieve it, he has committed the most heinous
of crimes. He has learned ancient dark magic; that by killing people
he is able to split his soul and then place a portion of his spiritual
self into a series of physical, material objects. As long as the
objects survive, so will he.
And so Voldemort's actions symbolically beg the question - how
we are dividing our souls? What material object do we think will
provide us with immortality? Is it worth splitting our souls to
attain what may turn out to be a living death?
And we think about the challenge of our modern culture. How we
glorify youth and avoid the idea of death. How we have lost our
relationship with death as a natural part of life. How, no matter
what age a person attains, their death is a tragedy.
Of course death is certainly a loss and naturally there is sadness.
But a life well lived with purpose and meaning, nurturing relationships
and loyalty and sacrifice can leave us proud and at peace at the
passing.
Harry Potter is a young man with a different kind of mission. Harry
knows that he is up against the most powerful wizard in the world.
He knows that he is fighting a vicious, unprincipled enemy supported
by all manner of corrupt people and ferocious dark creatures. He
knows that he is risking his life and the lives of his friends.
Yet he will not turn back. He will not surrender. And he will not
be defeated, even if he must look death straight in the eye in the
process.
Harry is loved. And love overcomes death in these books over and
over again. And this causes us to ask: who loves us? Who do we love?
How does that love help us live our values more fully and completely?
Does it save us from becoming bullies, from dividing our soul and,
in effect, destroying ourselves in the false hope of out-running
our fears, especially our fear of death?
The opposite of love is fear. Fear causes us to be small and self-centered,
consumed in self-protection at the cost of our vales and a full
life. Maybe it is because he has faced death so many times, maybe
because he has risked so much in the name of love, that Harry in
the end is ready, surrounded by a great cloud of witness, the choir
invisible, to step into the void, to become the ultimate archetype
- the willing sacrifice. And it is only through this amazing, brave
and purposeful sacrifice that Voldemort finally is vanquished.
But that is not really the end. For we all know that we cannot
kill off our shadow side. We must come to terms with it and day
after day, we must make new decisions to follow our moral dreams.
So then what is the end? What is the final answer at the end of
seven volumes, more than 3,000 pages and eight feature films? I
think the answer is reconciliation. We are told, at the very end
of the last book, that, years later, Harry has had a son. The boy
has been named Albus Severus Potter and so, in his son, are Albus
Dumbledore and Severus Snape reconciled. In him also are the two
competing house of Hogwarts united. And so, as the adventure ends
in a spirit of reconciliation and fulfillment, Harry send his young
son off to Hogwarts knowing that the time has come for him to start
making the choices that will create the meaning of his life.
At the end of one movie, the school year has ended and Harry, Ron
and Hermione are heading for the train to take them back to the
real world. Harry says that Dumbledore told him that they have something
that Voldemort does not have. That they have someone to live for.
Andrew Slack "Dumbledore was a champion for the rights of
werewolves, giants, house elves, muggle-borns, centaurs, merpeople
-- even alternative marriage. When it came time to decide whether
the marriage between Lupin the werewolf and Tonks the full-blooded
witch could be considered natural, Professor Minerva McGonagall
said, 'Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think
that there was a little more love in the world.'"
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